A Hoarding Alliance local resource guide
A respectful place to begin, whether you are looking for support for yourself, worried about someone you love, or trying to respond to a safety, housing, care, or practical concern in Boston.
Start here - Fight the Blight
Fight the Blight is the nonprofit and virtual-group front door for people affected by hoarding and clutter concerns. People in Boston can also use city, state, nonprofit, peer-support, qualified-care, housing, shelter, food, legal, utility, and practical pathways. No outside listing is an endorsement; each organization sets its own eligibility, cost, hours, service area, capacity, consent, and safety rules.
For immediate danger, fire, serious injury, or a life-threatening medical emergency, call 911. For behavioral-health crisis support in Massachusetts, call or text 833-773-2445 through the Behavioral Health Help Line, or call 988 for emotional distress or suicide-related crisis support. For Boston housing instability, call the Office of Housing Stability at 617-635-4200 during weekday business hours or BOS:311 at 311 or 617-635-4500 outside those hours. Shelter access and capacity change; confirm directly before traveling.
First conversations
You do not need to know the perfect service name before reaching out. These organizations can help you understand the landscape and identify a next step.
Massachusetts provides public information about hoarding, including health, safety, housing, and community impacts and links toward behavioral-health, social-service, government, academic, and self-help resources. Use it to understand the landscape, then confirm the scope and current availability of any separate service.
Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for OCD and Related Disorders describes evidence-based hoarding treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication. Its current intake information says eligibility is tied to listed Mass General Brigham primary-care or specialist relationships and may be reviewed case by case. Ask about current intake, insurance, fees, wait time, and whether the clinical scope fits; this is not organizing or cleanup.
MassHousing maintains a statewide hoarding resource hub and an August 2025 directory covering clinical mental-health services, social and medical services, informed sorting and cleanup, emergency clean-out, training, assessments, and housing resources. MassHousing says the directory is not an endorsement; confirm current credentials, fees, geographic scope, consent, and availability directly.
Mass 211 is a statewide resource-navigation program that can help identify housing, shelter, food, utility, behavioral-health, transportation, and other community options. Call 211 or 877-211-6277 and confirm eligibility, hours, documentation, transportation, and capacity with the referred program.
Boston Medical Center's CBHC describes 24/7/365 crisis response, same-day urgent visits, mobile crisis intervention, community crisis stabilization, routine behavioral-health and substance-use care, case management, peer specialists, and family partners. It serves Boston neighborhoods and Brookline. Call 800-981-4357 for crisis or 617-414-5470 for the CBHC clinic; this is clinical and crisis care, not cleanup.
The International OCD Foundation's hoarding directory helps people search for therapists, programs, support groups, organizers, and task forces. A directory listing is not an Alliance endorsement or credential guarantee. Ask about hoarding-specific experience, consent-based pacing, privacy, insurance, fees, and scope before choosing a provider.
Safety and stability
These pathways serve different situations. Read the labels carefully before calling, especially when a response may involve crisis care, protective services, shelter, housing rules, legal advocacy, or emergency dispatch.
Call 911 when there is immediate danger, fire, a serious injury, violence, or a life-threatening medical emergency. Emergency dispatch is not a hoarding-support program, behavioral-health counseling service, or cleanup provider. When the situation is not immediately dangerous, begin with a support, care, or navigation pathway.
Call or text 988 for emotional distress, a mental-health or substance-use crisis, or concern about someone else. You do not have to be suicidal to call. 988 is not a cleanup provider and does not guarantee an in-home response; call 911 for immediate danger, fire, violence, or a medical emergency.
The Massachusetts Behavioral Health Help Line connects anyone in the Commonwealth with trained behavioral-health providers and peer coaches for crisis triage, assessment, referrals, and connection to Community Behavioral Health Centers. Call or text 833-773-2445 or use its online chat. This is crisis and care navigation, not cleanup or emergency dispatch.
BMC describes its BEST Mobile Crisis Intervention team as a 24-hour response for youth and adults with mental-health or substance-use crisis needs in community settings. It also offers same-day urgent care and short-term community crisis stabilization. Call 800-981-4357 to confirm the safest current route; call 911 for immediate danger or a medical emergency.
Boston Inspectional Services says a hoarding complaint may lead to an inspection or wellness check, code-violation follow-up, and referrals to other agencies. The City notes that emergency responders may be involved in extreme situations and often gives an owner time to correct violations. This is a regulatory and safety pathway, not a support group or cleanup service; call 617-635-5300 or use BOS:311.
Massachusetts Adult Protective Services investigates suspected abuse or neglect involving adults age 60 and older who live in the community, including self-neglect and exploitation concerns. Anyone may report, including anonymously, by calling 800-922-2275 or using the online system. In an emergency, call the hotline; for immediate danger or fire, call 911. APS is not a general clutter referral line and generally proceeds with the older adult's consent.
Boston's Office of Housing Stability helps Bostonians find and maintain stable housing and provides information and referrals for tenants in crisis, including eviction, fire, natural disaster, or condemnation situations. The City says it does not place people directly into shelter. Call 617-635-4200 Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; use BOS:311 outside those hours.
SafeLink is the Massachusetts domestic-violence hotline listed by the City of Boston for 24/7 support and connection to safety resources. Use it when violence, coercion, or threats are part of the situation. It is not hoarding-specific care, cleanup, or a substitute for 911 during immediate danger.
People and practical help
These listings connect the local community with housing, food, behavioral health, benefits, transit, survivor advocacy, disability support, peer support, and practical resources. Ask about current availability, cost, scope, consent, and safety before relying on them.
Boston's current homelessness-services page lists overnight shelters, drop-in services, outreach teams, coordinated housing search, family shelter access, and other local pathways. The City says people needing immediate shelter should contact providers directly and that the Office of Housing Stability does not place people directly into shelter. Confirm current intake, household eligibility, space, accessibility, and belongings rules before traveling.
The Boston Housing Authority maintains separate application portals for state public housing and federal or city programs. BHA says applicants may face long waits, the Section 8 tenant-based voucher list is closed, and no immediate housing is available through the waiting lists. Priority and preference rules may apply for homelessness or imminent displacement. Confirm current openings, income limits, documentation, reasonable accommodations, and waitlist status directly.
The Boston Home Center offers counseling, homeowner education, foreclosure-prevention support, and financial help for qualifying repairs. Current program information includes repair financing, minor home repairs for seniors, heating-system assistance, lead-removal help, and other housing programs. This is not hoarding-cleanup or emergency repair funding; ask which program fits and confirm current criteria.
Boston Age Strong and the Massachusetts aging-services network connect older adults and caregivers with home-care, nutrition, transportation, safety, caregiver support, options counseling, and referrals. The state lists Boston Senior Home Care, Central Boston Elder Services, Ethos, and Age Strong as Boston-area access points. Call Age Strong at 617-635-4366 or MassOptions at 800-243-4636 to identify the right local pathway.
Boston's Public Works Department provides scheduled collection for refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners, water coolers, ice makers, dehumidifiers, televisions, laptops, and computer monitors. The City requires an appointment, limits special collection to 10 items per calendar year and 5 per appointment, and has preparation rules such as removing refrigerator doors and food. Furniture, mattresses, commercial-grade items, and other materials follow different rules; confirm before moving anything.
BOS:311 routes residents to city services and accepts non-emergency requests involving housing, public health, code, trash, illegal dumping, litter, and other city concerns. The service lists 24/7 access and separate paths for mattress and special-item pickup. Call 911 instead for a burning building, crime in progress, or immediate danger.
Boston and Massachusetts list utility-bill, fuel-assistance, shut-off-protection, discount-rate, water-billing, and home-energy pathways. Massachusetts HEAP is free to apply for and may help income-eligible renters or homeowners; Boston directs residents to ABCD for local fuel-assistance support. Confirm current heating season dates, income guidelines, utility, household, and application rules before relying on assistance.
The Greater Boston Food Bank's current food-access page provides a partner-agency locator for food pantries and community meals across Eastern Massachusetts and offers SNAP application assistance. Search by ZIP code or call 617-598-5022, then confirm distribution hours, household eligibility, identification, transportation, and current capacity with the local agency.
The City of Boston lists Project Bread's FoodSource Hotline as a way to find food pantries, community meals, low-cost food programs, and SNAP application help. Call 1-800-645-8333 during listed weekday and Saturday hours. This is food navigation, not emergency shelter or hoarding-specific support.
Greater Boston Legal Services provides free civil legal help for qualified low-income residents, including housing, eviction, public-housing, benefits, disability, health, and domestic-violence matters. Housing intake is currently by phone except for shelter matters; call 617-603-1807 for housing questions or 617-371-1234 for general intake. Confirm current eligibility and intake hours.
The IOCDF's current task-force directory lists the Boston Hoarding Task Force through Bay Cove Human Services' Tenancy Preservation Program. Use the directory contact to confirm that the task force is active, what cases it accepts, whether referrals are required, and what support is currently available. It is not an emergency line or a Fight the Blight program.
The Massachusetts Hoarding Resource Network brings together people with lived experience, families, housing, aging, behavioral-health, human-service, public-safety, code-enforcement, research, and community perspectives. It is especially relevant for property managers, municipal workers, nonprofits, and other supporters building a coordinated response; it is not emergency or direct cleanup care.
Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program provides integrated medical, behavioral-health, social-service, benefits, and supportive care for people experiencing homelessness in Boston and surrounding communities. Use it when housing instability and health needs overlap, then confirm current clinic locations, eligibility, appointment access, and scope. It is not hoarding-specific cleanup or emergency dispatch.
The Peer Tree offers nonclinical hoarding and clutter support, including organizing help, groups, family guidance, and practical next steps. Ask about current availability, service area, scope, pacing, privacy, and fees before beginning. The Peer Tree is a separate private-pay pathway from Fight the Blight's nonprofit programming.
Unburied, from The Peer Tree, is a judgment-free digital peer-support pathway for people affected by hoarding and clutter concerns and for friends, family, property managers, municipal workers, nonprofits, and other supporters. It can offer ongoing connection, tools, and momentum from Boston or anywhere else. It is not therapy, clinical care, or emergency support.
A note from the Alliance
This guide is anchored in Boston, Massachusetts, and includes city, county, state, nonprofit, national, and independent pathways. A listing here does not mean Fight the Blight endorses every provider or can guarantee availability. The Hoarding Alliance is not a city or county agency, therapy practice, emergency service, or cleanup company. We will keep reviewing this page, but please confirm details directly before relying on them.
Need help choosing a path? Contact Fight the Blight